Hey, Spike! gets out and about amongst you all

Related Media

Welcome - again - to a few recent days in the life of Hey, Spike! and the many social-biz contacts it offers:

"Greetings Miles,

"Thank you for taking the picture of us yesterday - we will forever treasure the memory of our climb up Peak 1 in the Tenmile Range. My name is Jeff Epps (blue shirt), and my brother-in-law is Anthony Addison. Both of us are from Milwaukee, Wisc.

"Regards, Jeff"

The guys were on vacation with family (Louis, Debbie, Jenny, Sanaiah and Kingston) for a week and loved it. They are now headed home with a stop in Lincoln for the Nebraska vs. Wisconsin football game.

They started trekking up to Peak 1 from the Second Avenue parking lot at the base of Mount Royal at 6 a.m. While out running Monday afternoon, Spike caught up to the duo at 3 p.m., and offered directions back to their vehicle.

Jeff's take on the experience:

"The highlight of the trip for Anthony and I has been climbing the peak. The funny thing is if not for some confusion and lack of common sense we would not have done it. I heard about the trail from another tourist and asked how long it took to get to the top. They told me an hour to an hour and a half. I didn't know they were talking about the path to Rainbow Lake.

"Armed with misinformation and missing the understanding that you can't climb 14,000 feet in an hour, Anthony and I set off with two bananas, four bottles of water, and street clothes.

"Two hours into our climb, the lure of the summit trumped hunger, and adventure trumped brain power. Long story short - we left our family stranded in the condo for eight hours as we climbed the mountain.

"It was honestly one of the best experiences of my life, and was well worth the dinner I bought my parents to apologize for 'stealing' the van for so long."

***

Over at (Kelly, Bob Jr. and Becky) Foote's Rest Sweet Shoppe on Old Frisco Main Street after the town's July 4 fireworks - postponed due to the dry summer - were Cindy and Danny Eilts, Dawn Marie, Butch Elich, Amy and Scott Krause, fire chief Steve and KK Skulski, Gini Bradley, Rob and Brenda Hughey, Linda Gehringer, and Ryan Owen and his New Mexico family members Cynthia Bennett and Carissa Ann Owen and boyfriend Pablo, all enjoying the firepit.

Also there was the Copeland Clan: Ken, Sylvia, Marcea and Mark.

Here's their story:

"We purchased our new home in Dillon (Snowberry Subdivision) in late May, moving from Northern Virginia, where I worked for Uncle Sam for over 35 years. Sylvia, my spouse, still works, which makes me a 'kept man' - my main goal in life. Sylvia is originally from Colorado; most of her family lives here. Our daughter, Marcea, and her husband, Mark, both live in Colorado (another big reason for my wife wanting to come back). Marcea has a wedding planning business, Something Blue Colorado. She is a former college ski racer from the East Coast and has been offered a ski instructor position at Keystone for this season."

Before Saturday's sky explosions, we attended the fun "Not tying the Knot" party for Dr. Jim "JB" Bachman and his partner of a decade, archaeologist Amy Nelson, held at Bobby and Stephanie Kato's Tuscato.

A longtime local physician, JB was the first chief of staff at the new Centura Health St. Anthony Summit Medical Center before taking a position with Kaiser Permanente in Denver. A "Burning Man" vet, he still has a home here.

***

Taking a "Colorful Colorado" spin down through Leadville, Granite, Buena Vista and into Salida, we visited with Mary's sister Judy Hoch and husband Randy.

Our mission: Relieve them of a portion of their burdensome crop of greenhouse tomatoes.

While running errands with Randy, we spotted a Jeep bearing ZL plates at Walmart.

It was Mary and Dave Drawbert, down for the weekend from Breckenridge, and enjoying the 80-degree temps at their second home.

***

Miles F. Porter IV, nicknamed "Spike," a Coloradan since 1949, is an Army veteran, former Climax miner, graduate of Adams State College, and a local since 1982. An award-winning investigative reporter, he and wife Mary E. Staby owned newspapers here for 20 years.